Gray Eyes
by lightatmidnight
Summary: They say eyes are the window to the soul, and they are. I, Susan Chase, as wife of Fredrick Chase, have seen that his child, Annabeth Chase, acts emotionless around me. Except for the eyes. The eyes tell the whole story...


A little Heroes of Olymppus Spoiler, but if you haven't already read The Lost Hero by now, you must be a.) not a really big fan, or b.) not a fast reader. Or you know, have a bunch of Hermes-esque siblings who like stealing your stuf-anyways READ ON!

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Hi I'm Susan Chase, you may know me as Annabeth Chase's stepmother? Yes, well, Annabeth-has changed a lot in the past few years that I've known her. Of course, I admit to originally being a little harsh on her, but she has beared it well. Annabeth has-grown and developed in a way that only a child in special circumstances would.

When I first met Annabeth, Fredrick had just taken me to his house to show me her. She looked like a little four year old California girl, with a thin stature, and true blonde hair. Her eyes were a reflection of a different world though. And they worried me most. Instead of blue eyes like her father, she had startling stormy gray eyes. And they were much too intelligent for a four year old. Instead of the playful cheeriness that usually came from kids her age, her gaze was calm and collected, like she was analyzing my weak points, everything that I thought, every way that she could hurt me, annoy me, bother me. "Hello, you must be Annabeth," I smiled, kneeling down to see her more clearly. The book she was reading was an architecture book, the one I'd seen seniors reading in graduate school.

"Hi," she said shortly. "You're Susan, Dad's girlfriend." Now, this attitude would be normal for a fourteen year old girl. Not a four year old. She spoke clearly, and she didn't say 'daddy', but rather, 'dad', and she referred to me as an equal.

"Annabeth, mind your manners," Fredrick said cautiously.

"Sorry Dad," she said, looking back at her book, her blonde hair shadowing her face. I was completely unsettled by that first meeting. And the second was even more disturbing. It was the wedding.

Fredrick had just kissed me, when I caught sight of her face. It was blank, reflecting no emotion, her hair curled up like an angel, her dress prim and proper. Unfortunately, her eyes told the story. They were sad, looking like she was ready to cry. And as I hugged Fredrick and thanked the priest, before seeing a single tear run down the child's face. By now, I'd figured out this girl was not very normal. She had dyslexia and ADHD, sure, but that wasn't the abnormal part. She attracted-strange events. She was kicked out of every school she went to, which I found extremely odd, as her intelligence was beyond normal levels.

As I walked past her, Fredrick gathering her in his arms, he said, "She's your new mommy now!"

"She's not my mom," she said flatly, before saying calmly, "Please let me down now Dad. I overheard that we're supposed to take a happy family resembling picture next."

If her first sentence hadn't disturbed me, this second one certainly did. I shuddered, but faked a smile, and led us over to the photographer.

It wasn't until I was pregnant with our first baby, that I found out who this girl was, and why she was so queer. Fredrick told me, looking grimly at me. I'd just asked, "Why does-Annabeth act so queer?"

Fredrick looked straight at me, his blue eyes piercing me, unlike his usual playful self. "Do you really want to know?"

Of course, I'd nodded.

"She's a half blood. Her mother is-a goddess."

A goddess. His ex was a goddess. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. Did he still love her? Had I made a mistake marrying him?

"She's a goddess of Olympus. She's a Greek Goddess, Athena. But Annabeth doesn't know that. All she knows is that she doesn't fit in."

I'd like to say that I took the news well. The truth is, I didn't. I completely freaked out, and I took my anger out on her. The next time she got kicked out of a school, I screamed, "You're harming me and our family! GET OUT! OUT!" Of course, her father wasn't home, or I wouldn't have done it. I would've held my temper.

But I was angry. Angry that her mother was a goddess. That her father had fallen in love with a goddess. How could I compare with that? She looked at me with a calm face, but her gray eyes were thunderous and stormy. "You are not my mother. This will never be my home," she said, before walking away from me.

I slammed the door behind me and went into the bedroom to vent, and didn't come out until Fredrick knocked on the door. "Susan?" he asked in a concerned voice. I hoped Annabeth hadn't told him what I'd said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Where's Annabeth?"

I panicked. I hadn't-made her leave had I? "I don't know, last I saw her, she went into her room," I said, lying out of my teeth.

"I checked."

"What?" I asked, pushing open the door and storming into Annabeth's room. It was immaculately clean, which wasn't a surprise. However, her usual pictures of architecture was gone, and in it's place was-a note. "Did you see this?" I asked, untaping it gently from the wall.

Fredrick read it out loud, his voice shaking, "Dear Dad, I'm sorry to say, I'm leaving. I'll leave you and Susan, and my step-brother behind," at this point, I acknowledged the fact that she didn't see me as family. "I'm running away, I'll be safe. I'll find a place where I really fit in. I heard you say I didn't, weeks ago. I know I don't, and I'm going to find a place where I will. Don't report me, please. You know I'll be okay. Goodbye, Annabeth."

At the bottom, she had left a drawing of her and Fredrick, with a heart in the middle. She'd run away. She wasn't coming back.

Fredrick sat down sadly on Annabeth's old bed. "She's not coming home," he whispered, his voice cracking. He looked so lost, I wasn't sure what to say.

We sat in a lost silence.

We didn't receive contact from Annabeth until a year later, when we already had a little boy, Matthew. She appeared through a mist. It was scary really. One minute she wasn't there, and the next, we could see her torso up. "Hi dad," she said. I looked at her.

She looked older, around eight-ish. Her hair was longer and wavy rather than curly. She was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. She'd truly found where she fit in. Her gray eyes were sparkling, and happy. They were _happy_. It was so different for her to look happy, that she looked like a different person.

After her little call to say that she was alright, she didn't talk to us, for four years. Four whole years. I mean, occasionally Chiron, the manager of the camp, would pop up in the misty stuff and let us know she was alright, but that was about it.

It wasn't until she was twelve that she sent a letter. Fredrick was so happy that day, with trembling hands, he opened the letter. I wish Annabeth could see how happy she made him. He opened and unfurled the paper, reading aloud: "Hi Dad-Susan," I noted that she still called me Susan. "It's been awhile, but I'm fine. I've finally gotten to go on a quest, to help out Olympus, and mom. She says hi by the way. Anyways, I'm sorry for not talking to you for so long, I feel bad. A friend of mine-he convinced me that I wouldn't know about the circumstances until I really tried to figure it out myself. So I was wondering if I could come home-just for a year, to meet my little brothers and re-accustom myself? Sincerely Annabeth."

He beamed at the paper, before immediately heading to call Annabeth. I smiled, knowing that the gray-eyed daughter, Annabeth, would be coming back.

And come back, she did. She was a lot older than I remembered, her hair golden as ever, looking much more athletic, still holding those ridiculously large architecture books. Her eyes were bigger, more knowledgable, but still that stormy see through people look that managed to get to me all the time when I first met her. "Hello Annabeth," I smiled, welcoming her into the house.

"Hi," she said, smiling slightly, before entering the house. That was about as close as we got. Despite my attempts to talk to her, and welcome her, she was very closed. She was highly selective about what she said to me, and I quickly learned not to disturb her while she was working, as did Fredrick.

In fact, I soon learned that the only person who could really interrupt Annabeth was-her friends. Occasionally, I'd see Annabeth talking to a person in the Mist. Occasionally it was a satyr boy, who she claimed was Grover, her protector. Sometimes it was Chiron she talked to. However, the person she'd talk about most with Percy. Percy Jackson, she told us. He was the boy who had gone on the quest with her. Whenever she talked about him, her eyes brightened up, and she smiled, referring to him fondly.

He was new, she also added, which made me guess that he was the one who'd convinced her to give living with her dad a shot. Why else would she have suddenly made a decision like that.

She seemed alright with living back at home, generally fitting in, playing with Bobby and Michael, staying away from monsters. It was like having a normal child, also rather intelligent. I found that I enjoyed it-until she began having nightmares. Several days after the nightmares occurred, she ran away.

I'd been baking cookies for the end of the school year, celebrating the great year, when she never came home from school.

Later, Fredrick told me that Annabeth had bid him goodbye, saying that, "Percy needs her help."

"It's sad," he sighed, "To know that her friends know her better than I do." Now what does a wife say to that?r

The next time I heard from Annabeth, wasn't even from Annabeth herself. And yet, it was the most vivid memory. I was baking chocolate chip cookies for Christmas a year later, when I saw a crowd of people at my front door, being ushered in by Fredrick. "Honey?" I called, wiping my hands on a dish towel.

I found myself in the company of a bunch of teenagers, actually, only three, I noticed. Two girls and a boy. There was a girl with streaks in her hair, cut short, dressed in all black. There was a girl, no older than sixteen, who had a weird aura about her. Something told me that girl wasn't human. And, there was a boy. A rather handsome kid, with a narrow nose, bright blue-ish green-ish eyes, that reminded me of the sea. He had messy black hair, and was slim and muscular, on the tall side. I examined him most closely, because instinct told me this was Percy Jackson.

"Who are our guests?" I asked, to be certain.

"Oh," Fredrick said blankly. Something told me in his worry about Annabeth, he'd forgotten to ask for names. "This is..."

"Fredrick," I said softly. "You forgot to ask them their names?"

The three unwillingly introduced themselves, like they were being pulled into a dentist seat. I was right. The boy was Percy. The two girls were Zoe and Thalia.

"That's nice, are you hungry?" I asked, offering to give some cookies, sandwiches, and sodas.

"Dear," Fredrick said. "They came about Annabeth."

Percy retracted slightly at that, staring at me like he expected me to grow fangs or something. "All right," I said, wondering what on earth could have happened to Annabeth "Go on up to the study and I'll bring you some food. Nice meeting you, Percy. I've heard a lot about you." Which was an understatement.

The boy, Percy, I noted, had been very very very concerned about Annabeth's wellbeing. he looked tired, like he'd scoured the country for her. Which of course, he probably had. Something told me something was going on between these two. They just didn't know it yet.

As I brought up food later, I heard Zoe say, "I can drive sir. I'm not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car." Which completely supported my theory that Zoe was not human.

"What's this about?" I asked.

"Annabeth is in danger, on Mount Tam. I would drive them, but...apparently it's no place for mortals," Fredrick admitted. He wanted to save her, I knew that.

I knew it. But he couldn't. I'd have to leave it up to her friends. "Then they'd better get going."

As they left, I caught Percy by the shoulder. He turned around, looking at me expectantly. I was surprised at his eyes. While Annabeth's were serious and stormy, his were cheerful, and friendly. Although they were also worried. They were almost opposites. "Percy," I managed to say. "Tell Annabeth...Tell her she still has a home here, will you? Remind her of that."  
Percy looked around at the home, and finally smiled, "I'll tell her."

Shortly after, Fredrick snuck out. I didn't stop him, knowing he'd deal in his own way. What I didn't expect was for him to come back, hair messed up, looking like he'd just been in battle. Which of course-he had.

"You should've seen it Susan! The battle was amazing! Annabeth's safe, and her friends, except Zoe, she died in battle. Atlas was her father you know!" he rambled on and on. I was glad that Annabeth had finally accepted him, and listened to him ramble on, smiling and nodding as I put away the plates.

When Annabeth reappeared in my life, it was only a couple of weeks later, but she looked years older than she had when I'd last seen her. She looked older. And not because of the gray streak that had mysteriously appeared in her hair. More mature. More teenager. And yet, she was less trouble than when she was a teen. With the exception of the guy problem. You know, I am a girl. I can tell when girl's have guy problems.

However, when I got a chance to talk to her alone, I didn't ask her about it though. Instead, I asked, "How'd you get the-er, hair streak?"

Annabeth looked up at me from doing her homework. "Oh," she said amused. "I got it from holding up the sky."

I unconsciously began looking up at the ceiling. "Like, that one?" I asked, pointing up.

"Yeah," she said. "Blue sky thing. It's actually rather heavy," she said, returning to doing math.

"Was that-when you went missing?" I asked carefully.

Her silvery gray eyes darkened. "I wasn't missing. I was tricked," she sighed, running her hands through her golden hair. I stayed silent. If she wanted to talk about it, she could. Eventually, she said, "I'd be dead if they hadn't come looking."

I smiled sympathetically. I couldn't really connect to her in a lot of ways, but I knew it was always hard being a teenager. And being a-demigod couldn't exactly help the situation.

After she left that year, I didn't see her and her memorable eyes again until two years later. She kept us informed though. She said that there was a war coming. A real godly war, and that she was preparing. Percy might die, she added, eyes troubled. He was supposed to save Olympus. Just like in those ancient Greek myths.

What does a person say to that? It's certainly not in the parenting books. Instead, Fredrick found the perfect words. "Be careful, and good luck Annabeth. Percy's a good kid. Watch his back for him will ya?"

She nodded, eyes troubled, before ending the Iris Message and running off into her adventures of camp.

And, if you haven't heard, Percy did save Olympus, according to Annabeth. And they're together now. They're sixteen and going out. I've gotten to know Percy quite a bit. He really is quite the opposite of Percy. He acts impulsively, and he's really easy going. He really likes her you know. Annabeth told me that-Percy gave up becoming a god, just to stay with his friends-_and her. _And Annabeth? She's happier than she's ever been since I've known her. Her eyes-her gray eyes, they sparkle. I've seen them together, they battle together, they really have each other's backs.

Picking up the phone after thinking this, I answered, "Hello?"

"Hi Mom," I smiled, noting that she finally referred to me as mom. I suppose being a step-mom to a demi-god isn't so hard after all. Maybe life will be peaceful after this. "Mom, Percy's missing." _Or not._

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A/N: _So...what'd you think? This is gonna be a two-part thing. It's a one-shot, but there'll be another one-shot, called, Green Eyes, in Percy's stepfather, Paul's POV. Cool? Okay. Cool! REVIEW! Lots of Love-Catherine


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